In-service training policy during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of the agents of the farmers, rural people, and nomads social insurance fund.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed the in-service training of agents of the Farmers, Rural People, Nomads Social Insurance Fund (hereafter the Fund) to many problems. In-service training is one of the most effective development factors for organizational goals. This sort of training will increase employees' skills and subsequently improve their job performance. Accordingly, the present research mainly aimed to shed light on the effect of in-service training policy on employees' capabilities and job performance. Methods: The research was conducted among the agents of the Fund in Fars province, Iran (N = 197) out of whom 127 agents were sampled by simple randomization. The research instrument was a standard questionnaire whose face and content validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was determined by calculating Cronbach's alpha in a pilot study. The results showed that the indicators used to measure the research variables were acceptably consistent with the factor structure and the theoretical framework of the research. Results and discussion: Based on the findings, in-service training in the Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic has had a positive and significant effect on the agents' capabilities (communication and team-working skills, creativity and problem-solving skills, commitment and responsibility, technical information and knowledge, and technical and practical skills) and job performance at the individual, technical, and general levels. Also, the agents' capabilities have had a positive and significant influence on their job performance. It can be concluded that in-service training can influence the agents' capabilities and job performance and improve organizational performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the enhancement of in-service training courses' quantity and quality during the COVID-19 pandemic can influence the job performance of the agents at the individual, general, and technical performance levels.

Typology of Iranian farmers' vulnerability to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Context: Presently, farmers are faced with a new crisis caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. On the one hand, they are vulnerable to such respiratory diseases due to the nature of their farming activity. On the other hand, they will definitely be influenced by the pandemic in different aspects no matter if they do not contract the infection. So, this research aimed to study the vulnerability of farmers to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The present study was conducted using the quantitative approach and a descriptive-survey methodology. The statistical population was composed of farmers in Kermanshah province, Iran (N = 126,900). The sample (n = 382) was taken by the multistage stratified sampling technique with proportional allocation. The research instrument was a self-designed questionnaire whose face and content validity was confirmed by a panel of relevant experts and its reliability was supported in a pilot test. Results: The main damages of the pandemic to the farmers were found to be the increased costs of production, permanent or seasonal unemployment, reduced access to crop sale markets, and reduced control over pests and diseases at farms. The results revealed that the means of environmental, agronomic-vocational, and economic vulnerability were greater than the scale mean. The results also illustrated significant differences in the means of economic, psychological-social, agronomic-vocational, and environmental dimensions of vulnerability. Among these dimensions, the variable of agronomic-vocational vulnerability had the highest mean, and the variable of psychological-social vulnerability had the lowest mean. Conclusion: Farmers have been one of the groups most severely influenced and damaged by the pandemic in various aspects. In this regard, organizations and institutions in charge of different agriculture sections, especially the Office of Agricultural Extension and Education, must develop practical strategies to reduce the effect of the pandemic on the agricultural sector. Identifying the dimensions and parameters of farmers' vulnerability in the face of COVID-19 can provide new and appropriate solutions to relevant planners and policymakers.